When Michael Knapp brings his lover Dan Biggs home to meet his parents, he doesn't expect things to go smoothly. His mother's been trying to marry him off for years, and sometimes he isn't even sure his father knows he exists. He has always felt like the shadow son, competing with his terminally stupid older brother and smart-mouthed little sister for his parents' attention. Coming out to them over dinner seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally get noticed.<br><br>But an unexpected phone call interrupts his announcement -- Aunt Evie, the family matriarch, is dead. With Dan in tow, Michael follows his family to Sugar Creek, where he spent his summers growing up, to prepare for the funeral.<br><br>Amid an overabundance of memories and relatives, Michael's world begins to slip. His dysfunctional family, Evie's death, and an old friend's confession all threaten to smother him. Worse, in his grief and confusion he seems determined to inadvertently push everyone away, including his lover. Can he and Dan move beyond his family and his past to a new life together, before Michael's insecurities tear them apart?

It's All Relative

No, hate wasn’t something she felt for Jessie. A love so tattered and torn that it ached in her chest like a wound that wouldn’t heal, maybe, but not hate. “She didn’t hate you,” I tell my aunt. “She…I think she loved you too much, maybe? It hurt to think of you, or hear your name, and the others…well, I guess they just thought it’d be best not to bring it up, you know? Nothing to remind her about…” I shrug, helpless. “I don’t know about what, Aunt Jessie. No one ever talks about whatever it was that happened.”


She looks at me from the corner of her eye. We’re halfway through town now—there’s the Robichaud place, can we just stop driving by it already? Isn’t there another way to Evie’s? I wonder if Stephen’s inside…“You don’t know?” Jessie asks, incredulous. “No one ever told you?”


Chapter 102